Female golfers in Guyana never took a back seat in the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s winning many local and international titles and that trend is becoming more evident as now over 65% of new players in the country are female.
This is according to a release disseminated to the media by the Guyana Golf Association (GGA).
According to the release, players such as Christine Sukhram (11-time Guyana Female Champion); Dr. Joaan Deo (2-time Guyana Female Champion and Suriname Open Champion) and three-time Current Guyana Open and Suriname Champion, Shanella London, are carrying on the winning traditions. The first women of color started playing golf in the 1970’s shortly after the golf club was relocated from the current National Park to the sugar plantation in Lusignan. Elma Seymour, wife of renowned poetry A.J. Seymour and Gertrude Seymour (no relation) were amongst the pioneers.
Without the sterling efforts of these women golfers in the past, the current players would probably not been able to have access to the sport. It is with this in mind that the Guyana Golf Association is honoring past female players with Honorary Membership in recognition of their contributions to the sport.
Doreen ‘Dodo’ de Caires, Joaan Fields, Valli Fung, Norma Fung, Caryl Pearson, Debbie Fung, Norma Clarke, Doreen Ragnauth, Berry Chee-a-Tow, Maggie DaSilva and Mary Affonso are being awarded Honorary Membership of the Guyana Golf Association as a thank you for paving the way for thousands of female golfers to follow in their footsteps, the release stated. In years gone by, women were relegated to playing on Tuesdays with the weekends being reserved for men’s tournaments, the release stated. However, owing to increasing numbers and talents, the tournament format was changed to include women on Saturdays, resulting in many wins overall by female players in the weekly tournaments. Doreen de Caires was one of the first Guyanese women to win the female Open Championship in Guyana and Grenada (1990’s) and was the second woman to be captain of the golf club, following in the footsteps of Mary Affonso. She was amongst the first women to represent Guyana in Trinidad, Barbados, Antigua and Grenada, the release stated.
According to de Caires, “I have been around golf in Guyana for over 53 years, and what Aleem Hussain and the Guyana Golf Association has done for the sport in a few short years, with the cooperation of the Ministry of Education, is remarkable and I take my hat off to him and his team for their unwavering dedication to grow golf in Guyana. I am truly happy to see this sort of development happening in my lifetime,” the release quoted de Caires as saying.
The longest serving secretary of the first golf club in Guyana was the late Melissa Humphrey which demonstrated that not only were the women good on the field but they were a driving force in the development of the sport as was evident from the fact that Maggie DaSilva went on to serve as captain of Rockley Golf Club in Barbados. According to Fields, “The women were united and the atmosphere was family-like but the competitiveness was always there and no-one played a friendly game during competitions. Many of the women were wives of diplomats and ex-pats but we Guyanese were amongst the best players.”
Valli Fung, who has not played in Guyana since 2003 explained, “My family was very competitive, with my sister Debbie active in both golf and tennis. I believe that greater things are in store for the sport in the years ahead as more expats are in-country like the older days.” She added that golf is one of the more expensive sports and traditionally, the average person would not have had access to even learn the game. The common regret from the stateswomen of golf was that they could no longer play the sport they love at the same level even though their passion and love for the game has never diminished. They still share memories of the years gone by over games of bridge and mahjong at Norma Fung’s home and reminisce about the good old days.
In announcing the awards, President of the GGA Aleem Hussain said, “It would be remiss of us to not acknowledge the struggles and contributions that these women made to our sport during its formative years and this is an honor long overdue. If we have inadvertently omitted anyone who was an integral part of the sport, we apologize in advance and ask that they contact us at 645-0944. We will always hold them in the highest regard.”
